Skye's Secret Past
by 263Adder
Summary: Already posted on A03. This is going to be a trilogy all named after Chloe Bennet songs/music videos.
1. Uh-Oh

After having a couple of months to think it over Miles had evidently figured out the most vindictive thing he could do. Apparently he was a bit bitter over Skye choosing S.H.I.E.L.D over him.

She knew she should have thrown it in the ocean when she had the chance.

When one of her former Rising Tide contacts had sent her the link – to say the organisation had been angry at her 'betrayal' was an understatement – she'd felt her stomach drop. Her team were just starting to take her seriously again after the whole fiasco with Miles. How would she ever convince them she was good enough for S.H.I.E.L.D when they saw this?

She slammed her laptop shut as Fitz walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Skye." He said pleasantly as he opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. "What you up to?"

"Nothing." She said plastering on a smile. "Just surfing the web."

"Huh, well if you have nothing to do why don't you come down to the lab." He paused and looked around. "Me and Jems are working on our May impersonations."

"Aren't you scared she'll find out?"

"Terrified, that's why I shut the security cameras in the lab off."

She laughed. "Okay I'll be down in a little bit."

Waiting until Fitz left the room she quickly opened her computer again. Maybe she could wipe the video before anyone else saw it. But it'd been online for two hours now it may already have been copied. Nevertheless she remotely destroyed the original file.

The whole thing served her right. She was stupid to show Miles the video. She was stupid to trust him. She was stupid to do it in the first place but she'd _really_ needed the money.

As she made her way down the stairs she cringed at the thought of what the Rising Tide could do with such a video. It's not like they were the kind of people to hold back, particularly on people they considered to be subverting the truth. It's not like she'd ever held back when she was a member. Every time she found something even remotely juicy she'd make sure the whole world would know about it. On the positive side she still made money if the stupid thing sold.

"Skye!" Jemma squeaked. "Thank goodness, I thought it was someone else."

"Shut the door." Fitz insisted.

She did and perched herself on one of the stools.

"Watch Jemma's impression." Fitz said excitedly.

Skye turned to her and watched her press her lips in a straight line. "_Wheels up in ten_." She said in as stern a voice as she could manage while trying to suppress her laughter.

The girls burst out laughing while Fitz looked around cautiously like May might appear at any moment.

"Now watch Fitz." Jemma insisted.

"Oh okay." He said looking at the glass doors one last time. "I'm Melinda May and I can kill you with my pinkie."

"Fitz." Skye said momentarily forgetting her worries. "That sounds _exactly_ like your Ward impersonation."

"Cheater." Jemma added.

"Fine. I'd like to see you try." Fitz said pointing at Skye.

"Easy." She insisted. Taking a deep breath she brought out her poker face and said "Do _not_ call me The Cavalry."

"Skye. That was perfect."

"Definitely not as good as Jems." Fitz insisted who received an elbow in the stomach from Jemma.

"Yeah whatever." Skye said trailing her fingers over her laptop.

"Skye are you alright?" Jemma said and the pair sat opposite her.

"Yep."

They both looked at each other and Skye could see them have one of their telepathic conversations. Probably something along the lines of '_She's lying_' '_Of course she's lying do we call her out on it_' '_She'll just keep denying it_' '_She's obviously upset, maybe she wants to talk about it_' '_She won't_' '_How can we know if we don't ask?_' '_Fine but you can do it_'.

"Skye." Jemma started. "You know you can trust us right. We can just keep it between the three of us. Or if that's too much I can kick Fitz out I don't mind."

"_Hey_."

"Guys that's really nice but…" She trailed off. Would telling them be such a bad idea? They'd both told her plenty of stuff about her past even after all the stuff that went down with Miles and she hadn't told them anything about herself. She wasn't even allowed to tell them she was a 0-8-4. Would it really be so bad to tell them something that could actually prove to them both that she trusted and cared about them as much as they seemed to for her?

"_But_..." Jemma prompted.

"It's just a little embarrassing."

Fitz nodded. "Is it about Ward? Because we kind of figured…"

Jemma slapped him across the back of the head.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

"What?"

"Nothing." Jemma said giving Fitz a glare that he shrunk under.

"Um okay."

"You were saying."

Skye sighed. "Well Miles contacted me." She paused as they both gasped.

"What?"

"Did you tell Coulson?"

"Is he up to something?"

"What did he want?"

"Was he trying to get you back?"

"Is it something about the Rising Tide?"

"Guys!" Skye interrupted.

"Right."

"Sorry."

"_Anyway_. A couple of years ago when me and Miles were still dating I told him something about my past that is _totally_ embarrassing. But at the time I thought I could _trust_ him with it but now _obviously_…" She sucked in a deep breath. "He's posted it online. Kind of as a form of revenge. For leaving him."

"Skye." Jemma said her voice leaking with compassion. "How awful?"

"What was it?"

"Fitz!" He automatically leaned back like he was afraid she might hit him again.

"We're just saying it must be awful for someone to violate your trust like that."

Skye looked down at her hands. How is what she did to them any different? Maybe this was like some form of karma.

"Yeah well, guess I had it coming."

"You can trust us. You know that right?" Fitz offered.

"I know." She took both of their hands.

"So what was it?" Fitz whined.

"_Fitz_…"

"_What_? I want to know."

Skye opened her laptop. "I deleted the video Miles posted himself, though he'll probably just keep uploading it. But it's already spread to some other websites so there's not much I can really do. There's a lot of Rising Tide members involved so it's not like hacking into all of their systems would exactly be easy…"

"Nonsense, I bet you could do it if you wanted." Jemma said full of support as always.

"A video?" Fitz said.

"Yes and before you ask _no_ it's _not_ porn." Skye stated firmly.

"I never said it was."

"I could see you thinking it."

She brought up the video and turned the screen to face them before checking behind them and making sure the coast was clear. Sure it was fine telling Fitzsimmons but if A.C., May or Ward found out she would die of embarrassment.

Skye firmly shut her eyes as the video started though not quick enough to see how Fitz and Simmons' mouths dropped open.

"It was good." Jemma insisted.

"You speak Chinese?" Fitz asked.

She'd shown them both versions of the song.

"Yep."

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed."

"Look it's not something I ever really wanted to do. But some scout heard me at a karaoke bar one night and I _really_ needed the money. Just promise me you won't show it to anyone else."

"Show what?" Ward asked from behind them making them all jump out of their seats. "And why are your cameras off?"

"Erm…"

"Well…"

Skye rolled her eyes. Maybe asking Fitzsimmons to keep a secret was a bad idea in retrospect. "They were doing impersonations of May and didn't want her to see."

They both looked at her accusations in their eyes.

"What – guys relax. She's not going to kill you it's _fine_."

"Well I hope it was better than your impersonations of me."

Jemma grimaced and Skye laughed.

Fitz however scrunched up his face and put his hands on his hips. "I'm Grant Ward and I can kill you with my pinkie."

Skye rolled her eyes.

"So what were you talking about when I walked in?" He said looking at Skye. He didn't look suspicious or accusatory however he did have a pretty good poker face, Fitz could attest to that.

"Nothing. Just doing our impressions." Skye said innocently and was pleased when Fitz backed her up.

"Yep. Jemma's is really good. Anyway I need to recalibrate the…you won't understand." He said quickly and moved to the other side of the lab.

"Quite. And I want to have a look at the new equipment we picked up at the Hub, excuse me." Jemma scurried off.

Ward's eyes narrowed. "If you say so rookie but if you're hiding anything I will find out." He said menacingly before walking off.

Skye almost had a heart attack the next day when she walked into the lab, planning on gossiping with Jemma about A.C.'s awful tie, to find them both sat in front of the computer watching the video again.

"Guys." She said and quickly shut it off. "Mock me all you want but you promised me you wouldn't tell any of the others. The middle of the lab isn't exactly a discreet location if you get my drift." And she jerked her head to one of the cameras set up in the corner of the room.

"Relax. This is a blind spot. They can see us but not what's on the screen." Fitz said. "Besides we just had to watch it again…because it's so good." He hastened to add when he saw Skye glaring at him.

"Did you have any luck getting the video down?" Jemma asked kindly. She knew Skye was mortified by this even if she acted like she was cool about it.

"Nope. Once these things go viral there's no undoing it. Besides I guess it isn't something I could hide forever. On the positive side I did manage to send a _very_ nasty virus to Miles' computer and phone. Seems fair enough."

"I guess so. Have you heard anything else from him?"

"Miles? No not a word. Although if he opened the virus he won't be causing any damage for some time. It infiltrates all his online accounts, contacts, mail so that'll stop him for a little while."

"You designed it?" Fitz asked. He had a growing interest in CS occasionally getting lessons from Skye.

"Yep. Something I've been working on for a while."

"Uh-oh what's that?" May said from behind them.

Skye clenched her teeth and took a deep breath before turning around.

"A computer virus I've been working on. I sent it to Miles and a few other Rising Tide hacktivists."

"Any reason in particular?" May looked smugly calm.

Skye rounded on Fitzsimmons. "Did one of you tell her?"

"Tell me what?" May asked innocently. God she was good.

"I _swear_ we didn't." Jemma said.

"May _please_ don't tell anyone else." Skye begged coming closer to the agent. "It's bad enough everyone I used to work with has seen this…"

"Don't worry. Unlike these two I can _actually_ keep a secret." She said before turning to walk out. "Oh and send me the link will you? The security footage was a bit small."

Skye rounded on Fitz who had his hands in the air. "Okay maybe we watched it in the lounge _once_. But they were all supposed to be out, we didn't think they'd be monitoring security."

"If Ward or Coulson find out about this you're dead." Skye said grinding her teeth together in frustration.

"Find out about what?" Of course Ward was stood in the training area.

"Nothing." She said sweetly. "Time for a workout?"

"Sure, be back here in five." He said with a smile that told her he was not letting this one go.

Skye tapped on the door and poked her head into Coulson's office. "You wanted to see me?"

"Come on in." He said looking up from his tablet. "Take a seat."

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure everything's okay."

"Sure why wouldn't it be?"

"You and Fitzsimmons have been acting very secretively lately. I wanted to make sure you didn't tell them anything about your 0-8-4 status."

"Huh? Oh no I haven't told them." She said wringing her hands. She wished she could.

"Then do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"It's personal." Was the first thing that came to mind. Whenever Ward or May said something like that Coulson would just nod and let it go. When she said it however Coulson just gave her a '_Seriously? You're giving me that?_' look.

"Fine, I told Fitzsimmons something about my past that recently came to light. Not the whole 0-8-4 thing just some stuff I did after I left my foster home."

"And this is a big secret because…?" He prompted. His eyes looked light so Skye proceeded into the story hoping somewhere along the way Coulson would realise this wasn't important and would let it drop.

"Miles recently posted something about my past that I didn't really want broadcasting."

"You had contact with Miles Lydon?"

"I didn't respond. He's just a bit…vindictive."

"Did he make any threats?"

"No, no it's nothing like that. He just, posted a video of me that's kinda embarrassing."

"A video?"

"_No_ it's _not_ porn. Why does everyone thing that?"

Some colour rose in Coulson's cheeks. "That's not what I was thinking."

"Yeah yeah."

Coulson still looked curious. What the hell, half of the bus knew anyway…

"Pass me your tablet." She said with a sigh and pulled up the video. By now she had the web address memorised.

When she placed it in his hands and hit play she stuck her fingers in her ears. Stupid song. Unfortunately she forgot to cover her eyes and had to watch Coulson laugh hysterically for the next four minutes.

Skye walked down the metal stairs checking the bandages on her hands. For once she was actually a whole ten minutes early. Ward would surely die of shock.

"Skye?"

She'd caught him while he was still working out.

"Yep. Sorry didn't mean to disturb you, keep going." She encouraged. A hot sweaty Ward doing push ups. Yes please.

He counted another twenty five push ups like they were nothing before jumping up and walking over to inspect her hands as usual.

"You're early…"

"Yeah I woke up earlier than usual."

"Any reason?"

Just the nightmares. "No."

He didn't buy it. He never did. "Okay let's get started."

An hour later Skye was panting begging Ward for a break. The regime for today seemed tougher than usual.

He pursed his lips. "I don't know Skye. There's a lot of stuff I wanted to get through today. Although…"

"Although?" She encouraged flashing him a smile she knew he secretly loved.

"I might reconsider. If…"

"If?"

"You tell me what you've told everyone else on this plane."

She shook her head. "Absolutely not, no."

"Not even if I let you off training for the rest of the day?"

Tempting. However…"If I tell you you'll be able to hold this over me for the rest of my life. Half a day off, not worth it."

"Hmm. Okay then. Guess we'd better move onto the pull ups. I thought we'd do 200 reps."

Her jaw dropped. "No, no way."

"You're call."

She sighed. "I want one day off every month from training."

"Why would I agree to that? I already have pretty good leverage. I know every training exercise you hate, tell me or I'll make your life hell."

She thought it over. "I'll tell you why. You agree and I won't just tell you. I'll show you."

His eyes widened and she couldn't help but giggle at the things she liked to think were running through his head.

She stuck out her hand. "Deal?"

He seemed to take an age to think about it when he eventually took her hand in his. She liked the feel of it. "Deal."

Keeping a hold of his hand she led him upstairs into her bunk where she pulled the laptop onto the bed and motioned for him to sit down beside her. The bunk was small which meant they had to sit close. She didn't mind at all.

"Now I want you to keep an open mind. I was young and I needed the money. I didn't know any better." She glanced at him. "And before you say it _no_ it's not porn."

"I didn't think that!"

"Everyone always does, sometimes I wish it was porn it might be less embarrassing."

He looked a bit hurt when she said that, how odd.

She started up the video.

This time though she didn't tune it out or look away. She watched with him. Laughed with him. She thought it would be awful to have him know but it actually felt pretty nice.

"I can't believe you did that." Ward said still smiling.

She groaned.

"No it wasn't _bad_. Just _unexpected_."

"Wait until you see the other version."

"Other version?"

"I did the song in English and Chinese."

"You speak Chinese?"

"Why does everyone sound so surprised when I tell them that?"

"Just thought it'd be something you would've told us before."

"You didn't think it was odd that I was able to hack that system in Hong Kong even though it was all in Chinese?"

"You hacked it so fast I didn't have time to see what language it was in."

"_Aww_ is that a compliment? Did Coulson give you a software update or something?"

"Ha ha." He said sarcastically. "I don't think you're exactly in the position to mock now are you?"

"No I guess not."

"So if you found it so embarrassing why did you show it to us all?"

"Urgh Miles posted it online."

"Lydon?" He said stiffening up a bit.

"Yeah. Apparently he wanted revenge for me leaving him being the prick that he is."

"You want me to beat him up?"

"Was that a joke?"

"No." Was he actually serious? Knowing him probably.

"Well that's okay I don't need you to defend my honour. I already sent him a computer bug I designed that should take him down for a couple of months. Makes us even I reckon. But if he retaliates I'll give you his address…"

"You do that."

She looked up to find him watching her intently.

"What?"

He slowly moved his hand toward her face and touched under her eye. "You haven't been sleeping."

It wasn't a question.

"No."

"Tell me."

Skye sighed and looked down at her hands. "I've been having nightmares."

"About what?"

"Quinn."

She heard Ward take a sharp intake of breath. "He's in the Fridge Skye. He can't get out. He won't. I won't let that happen."

"I know."

"But?"

"But. I'm worried that something like this will happen again."

He pulled her into his shoulder and wrapped an arm around her waist. His sudden ninja like movement caught her off guard and she placed a hand on his chest to brace herself.

"I'll do a better job next time I swear. I'll protect you."

She struggled to pull back a little to look up at him. "It wasn't your fault Ward it was mine."

"No it was. I told you as your SO it's my job to protect you until you can protect yourself."

"I was the one who went in Ward. You weren't even there."

"I should've been. I should've been with you on that train."

"I was just meant to be doing comms I wouldn't normally need protection."

"I should have been there anyway."

"Ward stop. You can't be there to protect us all all of the time. You need to stop beating yourself up every time something happens. You were the same way when Jemma got sick and Coulson was kidnapped. Everything is not your responsibility. Stop taking the blame for everything that goes wrong. Some things are out of our control." She insisted and wrapped her spare arm around his neck.

"I have to protect you Skye. You don't understand…"

"So make me understand."

"I can't lose you again." He looked up at the ceiling refusing to meet her eyes.

"Oh."

She put her hands on his face and pulled until her looked down at her. "I can't lose you either."

He moved closer until their faces touched. "Are you going to stop having nightmares?"

"No. Are you going to stop feeling guilty?"

"No."

He kissed her.


	2. Every Day In Between

"There's no reason to worry. Every member of S.H.I.E.L.D has to undergo a compulsory physical examination. It's just protocol." Jemma said reassuringly while rubbing Skye's shoulder.

"Yep, we all get checked up every year to make sure we're fit for field duty." Fitz added. "Me and Jems had to have ours before they let us on the bus. Scientists don't usually have to have it…"

"…but then again most scientists don't get stationed in the field." Jemma finished.

"Do you guys practice that when I'm not around?" Skye joked. "Or have you been together so long you've actually merged into one mind?"

"Ha ha." Fitz said sarcastically. "We're trying to be reassuring here, you could at least be grateful."

"Relax, I'm not worried. What's the worse they could do right?" She picked up her bag. "I'll come see you when I get back okay."

When they said a full body check up they meant it. They even gave her a CAT scan. She had blood samples taken, urine samples and to her horror stool samples. What they were looking for was beyond her.

After all the medical stuff was out of the way they'd moved onto physical tests which included running on a tread mill for half an hour. But honestly after all of her training with Ward it was practically a walk in the park.

Now all she had to do was sit around and wait for the all clear. Reaching into her rucksack she brought out a book. Ward had decided to start setting her books after catching her reading the Hunger Games – _again_. Apparently becoming a field agent involved training the mind as well as the body – that's what he said anyway. As long as it stopped him from making her do pull ups though she'd read anything.

Running a hand over the cover she read the title. _Hard Times_. Well that sounded cheery. At least he wasn't making her read _War and Peace_ or _Moby Dick_. For now anyway.

She'd barely hit the second chapter when the doctor came back out. God this book was painful to read.

"Agent…Skye."

"Yep." She'd really have to consider making up a last name. Agent Skye sounded kinda ridiculous.

"We have your results back. You're physically fit though something did come up and we weren't sure whether you were aware of it or not. We weren't given access to your medical history."

"Oh yeah sorry I had to delete that…" Skye said anxiously rubbing her hands on her thighs. Yeah after leaving foster care she hadn't lived the best life but she was still racking her head to think of anything long lasting.

"The CAT scan revealed damage to your uterus."

Skye drew a sharp breath. Well it's not like she hadn't expected…I mean it was always a possibility right. "Yeah I figured something like that…" she trailed off not knowing really what to say and not knowing what to ask. "Am I still cleared to go back in the field?"

"Yes you have a full bill of health. You can leave as soon as you are ready." She said with a level of emphasis. Her expression was sympathetic.

"Thank you."

The doctor turned to leave.

"Wait…" Skye called back. "Just, so I know, in the _long_ term, does this mean I can't…?"

"You could never carry a child no."

"Oh." She twined her hands together. "Well that's fine. I mean, I've never wanted kids anyway."

"I understand." The woman said and throwing Skye another kind look moved out of the room.

Silently she stood up and headed for the bathroom leaving her things behind.

"Skye." Jemma said merrily as she set foot on the plane. "How did it go?"

Skye knew her face looked normal, she'd made sure the redness had gone down before she left but her skin still had that dry feeling it sometimes experiences after crying. Any face she tried to make felt wrong. She tried to look natural but it just felt so off like her muscles were refusing to cooperate.

"Fine. They cleared me."

"There we said you'd be alright didn't we." She said still beaming. Evidently Skye's face was just fine. At least in Jemma's eyes.

"Yep. Anyway I'm going to hit the shower. I feel a bit…"

"Oh I know the feeling. It's like how many tests could you humanly run!" Jemma said.

"Yeah. Anyway see you in a bit." She said rather awkwardly and made her way up the spiral staircase. Finding the lounge blissfully empty she threw her bag in her bunk and made a line straight for the shower and locked herself inside.

She was being ridiculous anyway. She's known after that stupid abortion there may have been permanent damage. What had she expected, at least considering where she got it done? But it's not like she could have raised a kid she had only been seventeen.

Besides she'd decided a long time ago she didn't want kids. Why was she freaking out about this? It's not like she'd grown up playing make believe like the other girls about future motherhood. Hell being an S.H.I.E.L.D agent and motherhood didn't exactly sound compatible. And giving up S.H.I.E.L.D? No that could never happen. She loved it here. It was her home. It gave her a reason. Hope. Everyone on this bus was her family, she didn't need a child to give her that. She'd still get to become a kick-ass aunt one day when Fitzsimmons stopped playing dumb and finally got started with the baby making. And pregnancy and birth was gross anyway. And babies, all they did was poop and fart and pee and eat and sleep and make spit bubbles. Whenever she'd had to look after them at St. Agnes it had been boring. No she didn't want that. And if she ever did decide to have kids she could adopt. A child. She could give a mini her a home. And just because she didn't give birth to it wouldn't make her any less of a mom.

But all that was irrelevant because she never wanted children.

Suddenly aware of how long she'd been stood in the bathroom she hastily turned on the shower taps and stripped before stepping in. She really needed to get her shit together before she saw Coulson, May or Ward. Acting fine around Jemma and Leo was fine but these guys were trained in lie detection. And the last thing she needed was to talk about it.

"Skye." Ward tapped on her door. "Did you forget about training this morning. _Again_." He said through gritted teeth. Sometimes that girl had the attention span of a needle.

There was no answer so he entered the override code and found her bunk empty.

He strode into the kitchen and the bathroom was empty. Perplexed he made his way back down to the cargo hold to find her stretching next to the punching bag.

"There you are." She said her usual smile absent.

"Where did you come from?"

"Huh?"

"You weren't here on time so I went to your bunk but you weren't there."

"Oh I was in the back of the lab. Jemma needed my help with something computer related."

"Computer related?"

"I'd go into details but really would you understand anyway?"

She had a point. "Never mind let's just get started."

"What no push ups for tardiness?"

"No you did all the physical tests at the base yesterday anyway. How did that go by the way?"

"Fine."

That was it? He thought she'd complain about the invasiveness at least a little bit.

"Fine?"

"Yeah they gave me a full bill of health." She said giving him a small smile. "Are we gonna start?"

"Sure."

They managed to work out for a good few hours. She seemed just as focused as always and she didn't snap at him and complain like she usually did when she was upset or angry. But something still felt off. She wasn't as smiley as usual. She didn't tease him.

When he ran into Simmons later he quickly pulled her over. She was Skye's friend after all.

"Hey Simmons did Skye seem off to you this morning?"

"Actually I haven't seen her today yet why?"

"You haven't seen her? But she said she was with you in the lab this morning before training?"

Simmons looked confused. "I haven't been in the lab at all today. I was with Fitz in the kitchen trying to bake shortbread. Is she alright?"

He paused. "I think so, I was just wondering."

Simmons' frown deepened.

"Anyway thanks." He said awkwardly before heading off to the lounge.

"Skye." Fitzsimmons said from outside her door. Jemma had filled Leo in on her conversation with Ward before. Now they stood waiting for her with a plate of slightly burned shortbread. The next time Fitz got homesick she would have to try and get him to put his kilt on instead – it would be much funnier.

The door slid open. "Hey. What've you got there?"

Jemma sneaked a look at Fitz out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know what Ward was talking about Skye looked just fine.

"Shortbread, want a piece? Or two?" She said pushing the plate forward.

"But no more than two." Fitz said.

"Erm okay." She gingerly took a piece. "Thanks."

Fitz started to walk away and as Skye shut the door she moved aside and allowed Jemma to see a small pile of tissues at the foot of her bed.

"Skye?" Jemma said in a hushed tone. When Fitz turned to see why she wasn't following him he sensibly went on without her.

"What?" Skye said dropping her tone too.

"Are you alright?"

Skye straightened and put the shortbread up to her mouth. "Yeah." She took a deliberately large bite.

"Did everything go okay yesterday?"

She waited for Skye to finish chewing and swallow and then fixed her with a glare.

"Yeah of course, I told you that."

"You know I can request your medical files."

Was it her imagination or did Skye look hurt?

"It is something to do with your check up isn't it? Oh god what is it? They're supposed to inform me of any medical conditions."

"Oh shut up it's nothing serious." Skye said rolling her eyes. She quickly scanned the corridor before yanking Jemma into her bunk and shutting the door.

"Well."

"They just confirmed something for me."

"What?"

She didn't say anything but just pointedly looked at her shoes.

"Skye?"

"I can't have kids."

Jemma swallowed. Gently she pulled her friend into a hug.

"It's just silly you know." Skye's voice was mumbled as she spoke into the crook of her neck. "I never wanted kids I don't know why I'm acting weird about it."

She smoothed her hair and deliberated her answer. "Maybe it isn't not having kids." She said slowly. "Maybe it's having the choice taken away from you?"

Jemma took her silence as a agreement and continued to stroke her hair.

Eventually Skye pulled back and with a sigh sat on her bed, leaning against the wall.

"You said they confirmed it. You already knew?"

Skye patted the bed next to her and Jemma took a seat.

"I had an abortion when I was seventeen. I couldn't afford to go anywhere nice so I got a cheap one from this guy."

"This guy?"

"Yeah, anyway it was fairly clean but the tools were quite old. But clean I made sure they were cleaned."

"But?"

"I was in pain for the next few weeks, caught a fever. There was a fair bit of blood. The doctor told me my uterus was damaged. I'm guessing that's what did it."

"They told you you can't have children."

"Yep."

"Skye." She said gently and pulled her to her side and continued to hug her.

Simmons and Skye were spending much more time together. Once Ward caught them hugging in the kitchen before they'd jumped apart when he came inside and hastily continued making sandwiches.

However when he tried to ask Simmons what was going on she awkwardly tried to tell him everything was fine before rambling and then running off pink in the face. He tried to break Fitz to find him as clueless as he was.

"I don't know but I've hardly seen Jemma in days. Do you think she's alright?"

Ward rolled his eyes before heading to the cargo bay where he'd told Skye to meet him for an afternoon workout.

"Hey S.O." She said seeming the cheeriest she had been for the last week. "What're we doing?"

"I thought we'd run laps."

She pulled a face. "Fine – you know you're kinda boring sometimes."

"So you've said. Shall we get started?"

Skye walked into her bunk and shut the door behind her. Today had been a good day. The first in what felt like a while. Things seemed to finally be getting back to normal. Fitzsimmons were being mad scientists. May and Coulson still had babied her. Ward made her do extra workouts and she teased him mercilessly. Sure there was a level of predictability about their week. They'd get an assignment, there'd be some weird stuff going on. But she'd have them all to fall back on when things got bad. She'd never had that before. She used to be afraid that they'd reject her, like all her foster families used to do. But now, she knew that S.H.I.E.L.D had always been trying to protect her, and they still were.

Her conversation with Jemma had been good. She used to think it was best to keep things to herself, to not talk about them. But opening up to someone she could trust was amazing. She felt ten pounds lighter.

Moving to her bed she stopped as she saw a box sitting on her pillow. Looking around, not putting it past Fitz to try and prank her yet again, she moved forward and picked it up. It was light in the palm of her hand and she gently opened it, hesitant of what she might find inside.

To her surprise all she found was a slip of paper. Turning it over it read:

_One day off training._

It was unsigned but then again it didn't need to be.


	3. Tonight

So the last time Skye complained that Miles had really done it this time she'd failed to account for one little thing. That he was a very good hacker (though not as good as her) and while the virus she made certainly took him down for a few months it unfortunately made him come back with an even bigger vengeance.

And as he'd realised how much she hated people digging into her past, he decided to dig into her past. _Again_.

And then he'd sent her one thing she really didn't want to see.

A picture of her husband.

Well estranged husband anyway. They'd only been married for all of two months, six years ago, until they'd split up and he'd moved away. Divorce never came up, they were too busy trying to get as far away from each other as humanly possible.

The real issue is that when S.H.I.E.L.D had made her fill out a pile of forms when she joined as a consultant she'd negated to mention her husband and therefore had lied on her application. Which given how much S.H.I.E.L.D praises paperwork probably had some form of consequence.

Lying again wasn't really an option not now. She'd lied to Coulson once, she wasn't going to do it again.

Shutting her laptop she moved up the spiral staircase and knocked on his door before entering.

"Skye." Coulson said warmly. He was polishing one of his collectable gun things.

"Hey A.C. Look I need to tell you something."

"It's not another music video is it?"

She swallowed sharply and hoped he didn't notice. "No it's not that. Though it does involve Miles."

"Miles Lydon?" He set down the gun and stood up. "He's active again."

"Yes."

He waited a moment for her to elaborate but she didn't. "Well? What has he done? Do we need to bring him in?"

"No."

He rolled his eyes.

"He hasn't broken any laws…"

"But he came at you again?" He said sympathetically. "What is it this time?"

She sighed. "It's not porn."

Coulson blushed and stammered "I wasn't thinking…"

"_Please_, everyone does." She drew a depth breath. "He found my husband."

"You're what!"

"We're separated."

"But your file says…"

"I know. I lied. Sorry."

"You lied on your _form_?" It was almost funny how horrified he sounded.

"I know I shouldn't have. I'm so sorry A.C but you have no idea how hard I've tried to forget about this guy. I haven't even spoken to him in six years."

"What exactly did Miles do?"

"He posted a picture of him – a recent picture."

"You think Miles may have gotten in touch with him?"

"Maybe."

"What does your _husband_ do exactly?"

"I'm not sure. Back when we were…together, he used to be a freelance computer programmer."

"What's his name?"

"Scott West."

"So you're married name was Skye West?"

"Actually I wasn't Skye then. I've had a few names."

"Did Miles happen to give you an address?"

"What?"

"We'll have to canvas him. See if Miles might have passed on any information about you and S.H.I.E.L.D. On the positive side if Miles did we'll be able to arrest him so there is a silver lining in all this."

"Gee aren't I lucky. He didn't give me an address but if I run Scott's picture I should be able to pull a drivers licence."

"Okay, I'll round the team up."

"Oh that'll be _fun_."

Coulson waited until May had finished changing their course to fill the team in. Skye stood next to him with her arms folded, looking down at her shoes.

"We got a mission sir?" Ward asked looking at his rookie suspiciously.

"No, it's more of a personal errand. Involving Miles Lydon."

"Lydon?" Ward said sharply.

"Oh what has he done now?" Jemma said sympathetically, turning to look at Skye.

Skye bit her lip and didn't speak until Coulson cleared his throat.

"Hepublishedaphotoofmyhusbandonline."

"Huh?" Fitz said.

"Lydon may have made contact with Skye's husband…" he ignored the dramatic gasps from Fitzsimmons' "…we need to meet with him and see if Lydon told him anything about Skye's role in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You're married." Jemma whispered across the room.

"To who?" Fitz asked sounding like he was short of breath.

Coulson looked at May and Ward, the former looking uninterested and the latter trying to look it.

"When should we land?" He asked May trying to ignore Fitzsimmons.

"Two hours."

"Okay, Fitzsimmons will stay on the bus…" they actually said "aww" at that "…while myself, May, Ward and Skye will make our way to Mr. West's house and see what's going on."

With that he left the room hearing the words "You're name is Skye West!" as he left, yelled by what sounded like Simmons.

Skye sat in the back of the jeep with Ward and watched as they pulled up to an imposing tower block. Scott lived in the top floor penthouse – evidently life was good.

It was hard to stop herself from picturing an alternative life with him. He'd asked her to come with him and she almost had. To an extent she loved Scott, he'd provided her with a family for the first time in her life. A sense of stability. They'd only been dating for four months before they got married meaning they were only together for six months in total. But there'd been a connection on a base level. They were both orphans, in and out of foster care. The biggest difference between them was how they treated their pasts. Skye longed to find out about her parents, the ultimate factor in her joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Scott on the other hand didn't want to know. He'd been abandoned and if they didn't want him he didn't want them. He couldn't understand why Skye tried so hard to find the people who had ultimately discarded their child like last week's garbage (his words). It was a view she could respect – now. But at the time it had caused a discord that two barely legal adults could handle.

"Skye." Coulson called her out of her thoughts. "You ready to go up?"

"Sure thing A.C." She said trying to sound as natural as possible but she could feel Ward looking her funny.

The four of them moved into the spacious lobby and into a large glass elevator which carried them up the side of the building. If she'd been with Scott she would never have let them move into this apartment – the view down made her feel dizzy.

Did she really just think that?

"How do you want to do this?" May asked as they walked the corridor to his door.

"Skye? Shall I introduce us or…"

"I'll knock."

She didn't have to. There was a doorbell.

Any way she held herself felt wrong. Ultimately she clasped her hands behind her back and waited until the door swung open.

"Skye?" Scott said. He had a slight stubble and his hair was a little more styled than before but apart from that he looked exactly the same.

"Scott."

He surprised her by developing her in a warm hug.

"God it's been ages. What're you doing here?" He asked as he seemed to notice her company for the first time.

"Can we come in?"

"Of course." He answered with a wide smile on his face and stepped back to allow them all in.

The loft space was enormous. Vaulted ceilings and enormous windows offered spectacular views of the bay.

"Wow Scott. _Nice_ place."

"Thanks. You'd hate it though."

"Yeah the elevator isn't for me."

He laughed. "Yeah I thought that the first time I checked it out."

Skye felt Ward step behind her probably trying to stare Scott down. Whether he successfully conjured an intimidating glare was hard to tell as Scott still looked happy to her.

She followed him to sit on the couch.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No I'm alright."

"What about your…_friends_?"

"Colleagues." She corrected.

"Really – where do you work?"

"We're with an organisation known as S.H.I.E.L.D." Coulson said stepping forward.

"S.H.I.E.L.D? That sounds familiar?"

"We're a subsidiary branch of the United Nations. You may have heard of us in connection with the Battle of New York?"

"That was you guys. Wow, I would _not_ have liked to have been there when that went down. That's what you do now?" He said turning to Skye. "I thought you were with the Rising Tide?"

"You knew that?"

"Yeah. I'm still in touch with Rob. Remember Rob…"

"Griffin. God yeah, how _is_ he?"

May cleared her throat.

"Right. Yes. Sorry." She said and threw a quick smile at the others. Only then did she notice how tense Ward looked although god knows why. Honestly by this stage _she_ could probably take Scott down if she needed to. "What we came was to ask you is if you've had contact with someone named Miles Lydon?"

"I don't know anyone by the name Lydon but I know someone named Miles."

"Where from?"

"He came in to do some contract work at my company?"

"What kind of, _wait_…_your_ company?" Skye asked sidetracked again.

"Yeah, I got a big bonus at my last job and teamed up with another colleague and we started our own firm. Business is actually going really good, we just…"

"Mr West I hate to interrupt." Ward interrupted this time, a slightly irritated edge to his voice. "But could you continue to tell us about Miles, the man we're looking for may be involved in some kind of criminal activity."

Scott looked taken aback. "What kind of criminal activity?"

"Violation of S.H.I.E.L.D security procedures. He breached certain documents he signed after a previous infringement of the law."

"Please Scott." Skye cut in. "Anything you tell us could be very useful."

"Of course. We'd been suffering from some virus attacks – probably nothing you couldn't take care of in ten minutes…" Ward coughed again and Skye caught Coulson glare at him to be quiet – "and he was offering freelance work."

"Do you have any of the software that was hacked so I can look at the virus? Miles may have engineered it himself."

"Of course I have the specs on my laptop. Why would he do something like that, we don't deal with any sensitive cases at the firm?" He stood up and collected his laptop, passing it on to Skye.

"It may be a personal vendetta." Coulson said obviously trying to spare Skye having to go into too much detail about her past with Miles but Skye was beyond the point of caring. Besides Scott had already seen _all_ of her music videos which was more than the team. They didn't even know any more existed and Skye hoped it would stay that way for a _very_ long time.

"Against me."

"What? Why would anyone come after you?"

"We used to date." She said calmly. "We were members of the Rising Tide together, he taught me some more CS, building on the stuff we'd already gone through, but I broke it off after he violated the code."

"What did he do?"

"He sold information."

Scott nodded like he totally understood and he probably did. It was one of the advantages of being with a computer nerd like her, they spoke the same language there was no need for clarifications.

"Has Miles said anything to you about S.H.I.E.L.D or me?"

"No nothing at all. Though he is expected to come in a few more times. Apparently it's a complex virus."

"No it's not. I can wipe it for you now if you want." Skye said. "I recognise some of these algorithms. It's definitely Miles's work. It doesn't even look like he tried to hide the fact. I think he wanted me to see this."

"Payback for your virus?" Coulson offered.

"Maybe, I don't understand why he'd target Scott though."

"Did you ever tell him we were married?"

"No."

"Have you ever told anyone?"

"No."

He smiled. "Me either."

Skye smiled back.

"Don't wipe the virus Skye. If we wait for Miles to come back for his next visit it will give us a chance to get him in the open and take him in. At least we can get him for this hack."

"It doesn't make that much sense though." Scott said. "Why would he send me a virus to get back at Skye? He must know we're estranged and haven't been in contact."

"If he followed the trail properly." Skye agreed. "Maybe he just wanted to put more stuff about my past out there, he knows I'm a pretty private person."

"You never kept anything from me." It wasn't even a question. And she didn't.

"No – but then again you were my husband. Are. I guess. God that's so _weird_ isn't it?"

"Yeah, I thought about reaching out sometimes but I never really knew what I'd even say."

"Me too."

Coulson broke the moment again. "We won't take Miles in straight away then. We'll put him under surveillance while he carries out his contract at your firm and see if he tries anything else. In the meantime Mr West it's imperative that you do not tell anyone you met with us. We can't make Miles suspicious or he may try to escape."

Coulson, followed by May and Ward, moved towards the door before hesitating and looking back.

"Skye we'll wait for you in the hall."

"Thanks A.C."

Ward looked least happy to be leaving the two of them alone.

She waited until the door clicked closed behind them before sighing and fully reclining in her seat.

Scott did likewise and they both sat evaluating each other. It was strange how quickly they'd both fallen back into each other's rhythms.

"You know there is an internal elevator you can use. Meant to be for staff only but they really like me here."

"Hey." Skye said shutting the door behind her.

"You ready?" Coulson asked rhetorically. They'd all started moving down the hallway and didn't realise Skye wasn't following them until she spoke.

"Actually, I think I should stay here. For now." She added quickly.

He turned and saw she was still stood by the door.

"Why?"

"Well its obvious Miles is trying to draw me out, that virus was clearly designed by him, he used algorithms he'd know I'd recognise. He sent me the picture of Scott to bring me here. I think, to keep him thinking that his 'plan' is still working, it would be logical for me to hang around here for a while."

"Won't Miles be suspicious that you're here alone?" Ward asked his voice sounding tense.

Skye shrugged before saying apologetically. "It's not like I haven't gone behind your backs before for pretty much the exact same reason."

Coulson nodded. Only there was one significant difference now. He trusted her. Since she'd been injured by Quinn he was aware of how much he and the team had been smothering Skye to some extent, she wasn't going on nearly as many missions as before and when she did she was always escorted either by himself, May or, more often than not, Ward.

"Fine. But you'll keep us updated day and night understood?"

"Sure."

"And I know you trust Mr. West…"

"You don't need to say it Coulson."

"I'm just thinking about last time."

"It's different."

Coulson didn't say anything but Skye must have still known what he was thinking.

"It is."

He sighed. "Skye…"

"No." She frowned at him. "I trust him."

"It's been six years. He may be working with Miles."

"He's not."

"How can you know that?" This time it was Ward who spoke.

Skye's eyes flashed to his before returning to Coulson's face. "Because he's my husband. And I married him because I knew he loves me. And you don't betray the people you love."

He knew she wasn't just talking about Scott. She was promising never to betray the team again. But when he turned to leave and caught Ward's expression he still looked like she'd just slapped him across the face.

Skye shut the door behind her and turned to face her husband. God this day was so strange.

"Shall I show you were the guest room is?"

"Sure." She said forcing on a smile and following him out of the living room.

"Do you need to borrow something to sleep in – I can lend you a shirt?"

"That'd be great – thanks Scott."

"No problem."

"I know this must be a bit, _inconvenient_."

"It's no problem – really." He stopped at the foot of some steps and turned to face her. "You're doing your job."

"_Yeah_. Bet you never thought I'd become a suit huh?"

Scott laughed. "No. When I heard you joined the Rising Tide I thought it was a match made in heaven." He sighed. "You hate secrets."

"And now I keep them."

"I know you Skye. You wouldn't have joined this _S.H.I.E.L.D_ if you didn't think it would help you make a difference. You're a good person – I've always known that."

This time she smiled for real. "Remind me why we split up again?"

"Erm, because we argued all the time?"

"Oh yeah. Knew there must have been a reason I was forgetting. Lead on my good man."

The three agents drove back onto the bus and were greeted by Fitzsimmons who had come rushing out of their lab – probably entertaining the idea that Skye may have brought Scott back with her so they could finally meet him.

"She's staying there?" Simmons exclaimed.

"We decided it was best to try and convince Miles that his plan was working so we can see if he's up to anything else. He was obviously trying to lure Skye back to see her husband."

"But what if Miles still has connections with Centipede?" Fitz interjected.

"That's why you and Agent Ward will be running surveillance." Coulson answered calmly.

"Sir?" Fitz said curiously.

"Just because I trust Skye doesn't mean I have to trust Mr. West. And I know for a fact I don't trust Miles Lydon. Just because he's only done harmless pranks before now doesn't mean we don't consider him a threat. Let's remember we're dealing with someone who traded information with Centipede. He may still have connections within the establishment and there are a few members of Centipede I can think of who would like to know Skye's whereabouts."

Ward calmed at the thought of being able to monitor Skye, even if they were going behind her back to do it.

"How're we going to establish visual and audio?" He asked.

"No need." Coulson said turning to face him. "I installed some listening devices while we were inside the apartment. We can also tap into the buildings security feed to keep an eye out for any unsuspecting guests coming in through the lobby or corridors."

"How are we going to get visual inside the apartment?" Ward asked crossing his arms over his chest. He couldn't help but remember what he had seen the last time Skye had met one of her boyfriends.

But this wasn't a boyfriend – it was a husband. An actual _husband_. Of all the things he'd speculated about this was an aspect of her past that he hadn't been expecting.

"We're not. It's been six years I think the two of them deserve at least _some _privacy." Coulson responded, for the first time in the conversation sounding at least a little bit uncomfortable. "Get your gear together and move out."

The others filed out leaving him with Fitzsimmons.

"You heard Coulson Fitz, get your gear together." He said before striding out of the hanger ignoring their concerned looks.

Two days and nothing had happened. But it was Monday and Scott was due to go to work today.

"Ward should be up any minute to fit you with a wire. You're sure you're okay with this." Skye asked. She was sat at the end of Scott's bed while he tried to decide on a tie.

"Yeah, I told you I was. Which one was Ward?"

"He was the tall guy."

"The guy who looked like he was trying to kill me with his mind?" Scott said turning around while still holding two ties.

"The green one. Sets off your eyes. And he wasn't trying to kill you." If he wanted to it certainly wouldn't be with a look. "They just don't trust my exes."

"Ah so this about Miles then? How long were you two together?" He asked casually throwing the grey tie onto the back of a chair.

"A year."

"Longer than us then?"

Skye bit her lip. "Twice as long but half as good."

He smiled at that.

"What about you? You seeing anyone now?"

"There've been a few girlfriends over the years. Nothing serious."

"Really? I find _that_ hard to believe."

"It'll happen when it happens." He shrugged offhandedly.

"Well when it does you'd better tell me – you'll need a divorce."

"It's weird to think we're still _actually_ married isn't it?"

"I know."

Before she could go on the doorbell chimed, twice. Someone was impatient.

"I'll go let him in." She said springing up and starting off down the hall. Once she'd gotten over the sheer size of the apartment she'd grown quite fond of it. Plus it was nice to sleep in a bed where she could roll over and not end up on the floor.

Skye opened the door to her S.O. who strode past her into the apartment.

"Where is he?"

_Hello to you too_.

"Scott?" Though she knew there wasn't anyone else he could have been talking about. But she liked saying Scott's name because whenever she said it Ward would make the strangest face, almost like he was jealous. "He's still getting dressed. He'll be here in a minute."

She walked around him to sit on the couch. "How is everyone?" Skye hadn't been in communication with anyone on the bus apart from Coulson during the two days she'd been staying here.

"Fine?"

"Are Fitzsimmons still hung up on the idea of me taking the name West?"

It almost looked like he flinched. "They seem to think it would be funny." He didn't mention that he and Fitz had been monitoring them for two days, Skye would only flip out and if West was working with Lydon he may tip him off.

"Hmm."

"It would be." Scott said coming through the archway. "Agent Ward right?" He said approaching the two of them.

"Yes." Ward answered curtly before opening the briefcase containing the recording device. Scott lifted an eyebrow in Skye's direction and she just rolled her eyes. No matter what she said Scott seemed convinced that Ward was out to get him.

After Scott was fitted with the wire and was once again fully dressed – and Skye did _not_ peep, although if she _did_ catch his reflection in the TV that _really_ wasn't her fault – he turned to face her.

"Are you staying here? I can give you a spare key?"

"Sure."

He left the room to get it.

"You're not coming back to the bus?" Ward asked.

"Well no, I'm supposed to be pretending I came here on my own right? It doesn't really fit in if I leave and go to see you all does it?"

"Right." Scott came back through and passed Skye a key before picking up his jacket and looking at Ward expectantly. "Well we'll be going."

"Okay." Skye said happily though Scott looked a little terrified.

"And Skye…" Ward paused. "We haven't done any training in a while, why don't you do some of the exercises I taught you." And he left.

"_Hey_, are you suggesting I'm _fat_?" She called down the corridor. They didn't look back, and she didn't notice the person sneaking up on her from behind.

It wasn't until mid-morning when Miles still hadn't shown up that Ward became suspicious. He told Fitz to wait in the van while he went inside to talk to Scott.

"Agent Ward." Scott said. "Have you arrested Miles yet? Only he hasn't shown up this morning like he was supposed to."

"No we haven't seen him. I wanted to make sure you haven't communicated with him at all."

"Of course not. We need to catch him right, for Skye?"

The way he said Skye's name caused Ward's gut to clench. Did this man, her husband, _still_ love her, even after six years?

"We're still monitoring the phones but if he tries to contact you any other way inform us immediately, I'm going back to your apartment."

Scott started fishing through his desk draw and threw him a set of keys which Ward deftly caught.

"Do you think he's going after Skye?"

"We know he was trying to lure her here. Makes sense he'd try to make contact with her." And as Ward half ran out of the building he hoped making contact was all Miles planned to do.

Skye gasped at the sudden light as her blindfold was ripped off.

"Skye. So lovely to see you again." A voice purred.

She looked towards the voice hoping it wasn't who she thought it was.

It was. Raina stood before her.

"It's alright." She continued, the words dripping off her tongue like poisoned honey. "Get your bearings first."

Skye looked around the room. She wasn't tied up anymore. And despite her expectations when she'd been knocked out she wasn't in a prison or a dungeon. Instead she stood in an ornate room where everything looked like silk and was covered in flowers.

"Why am I here? What do you want?"

"I just wanted to talk to you Skye." Raina answered calmly.

"About what?"

"Your potential."

Skye frowned. The woman was unhinged.

"You know you're special don't you Skye?" She both hated and loved how Raina said her name; she was hypnotic to listen to.

"What do you want?"

"I want to help you Skye. Help you to understand yourself."

"You think you know me better than myself?"

"I know things about you Skye. Special things. Things I think you'd be fascinated to know."

"Why?"

"Consider it a duty. We have more in common than you might think Skye."

"How's that?"

"Let's say we have a friend in common."

"Who?"

"I think we had better save that for later."

"No." Skye said trying to sound firm. "Let's talk about it now."

She smiled coyly. "I've always liked you Skye."

"That's funny because I've never liked you." She bit back.

Raina tusked. "I think you need to watch yourself Skye. Just because I like you doesn't mean I won't…well let's just say I've got a little incentive for you."

"And what's that?"

The door opened and someone was thrown to the ground. It was only when he scrambled to his knees, both his wrists and ankles tied behind his back that she saw who it was.

"Miles?" She asked in shock.

He couldn't speak but his eyes widened when he saw her. One day she might have thought he was concerned about her. But now she realised what was behind his expression of fear. Self-preservation.

"Yes. Your friend here was a great help to us."

Skye glared at him.

"I'd thought of a few ways to lure you out into the open. But if it hadn't been for Miles here we would never have devised this little _trap_. I must say Skye I'm rather surprised. I would never have put you down as the sort of girl to settle down."

"If you think I'm going to help you…"

"To save him?" Raina cut her off, her smile widening. "Oh I think you will."

"I don't owe him anything."

"No. But you'll still save him."

"And why's that." Skye said struggling to think of any reason to protect that backstabbing lowlife.

"Because you're too good for such things. I don't think you could even let a man who betrayed you three times die in front of you Skye."

Ward's fist collided with the door. The apartment was empty and there was no sign of a struggle but he knew Skye was gone. She'd left her phone. Skye never left her phone. There were days when it seemed more like an extension of her arm than a piece of technology.

He contacted Coulson.

"You're sure." Coulson asked sounding tense as Ward filled him in.

"Positive."

"I'll get Fitzsimmons to work on surveillance footage, see if we can't figure out where they went. Do you think Lydon is involved?"

"It seems logical he had some hand in this but he must have had help. Skye may have only had a few months training but it's enough for her to take a civilian like Lydon down. This seems too clean."

If Lydon did lay so much as a hand on her however Ward would happily keep his previous promise to Skye and break him until he was unrecognisable.

"Pick up Mr West and bring him back to the bus."

"You want to interrogate him sir?"

"No." Coulson responded. "But he might be a help, he knows the city better than us and he's the closest thing we have to a hacker without Skye." He hung up.

Coulson watched as Skye's husband set foot on the plane.

"Mr West." He called from the top of the stairs. "Follow me."

He led them to the briefing room where May and Fitzsimmons were already waiting. The tension was sufficient enough to dampen Fitz and Simmons' enthusiasm of meeting Skye's husband though they still looked curious as they set eyes on him.

"Alright everyone. The last time we made contact with Skye was five hours ago. May has there been any unusual air activity."

"No. Only commercial flights in that time frame, no military or private jets. I also checked with the docks, no ships have left this morning."

"I also checked the train stations." Simmons chimed in. "Nothing there."

"So we can presume Skye's still in town." Scott said sounding slightly relieved. "Well that's good, it means we have a good chance at finding them right?"

"If they've been planning this for a while," Coulson cut in "they probably already had a base set up where they planned to take Skye after apprehending her."

"They probably also had their transport already set up." May added in.

"The better planned this was the harder it will be to find her." Ward concluded grimly. There was no point trying to spare the man's feelings. This was usually where Skye swooped in with her hacking skills.

"What can I do?" Scott said.

"He have Fitz and Simmons here helping monitor surveillance of the apartment and nearby roads. Given your computing skills we hoped you could assist them?"

"Of course."

Simmons tried to smile warmly at him. "Excellent. We're set up in the lab downstairs." And the three of them exited the briefing room.

"Ward, May." Coulson said turning to them. "Get geared up and ready to move out."

Raina had left Skye and Miles alone, not bothering to tie Skye up, perhaps aware that she had no intention of untying Miles. No matter how many times he tried to shoot the puppy dog eyes at her.

Instead Skye just returned his looks with as terrifying a glare as she could conjure, trying to act like May again. It was so much easier when she had the jacket.

The door quietly swung open and Raina entered carrying a tray with what looked like a jug of lemonade. She sat next to Skye on the couch.

"Pick a glass."

"What?"

"Pick a glass." Raina repeated.

"Why?"

"So I can give you a drink." She responded calmly.

"So you can poison me you mean."

"Skye." Raina said sounding like she was on the edge of quiet laughter. "And risk poisoning myself?" She gestured to the jug.

Skye picked up and glass and Raina poured them both a drink. She let Raina drink first.

Raina must have found her reaction comical as she let out a soft laugh. "You really think I'd kill you Skye."

"There are worst things than death." And it was true. She'd seen what Raina had done to Coulson first hand.

"I agree. However our friend would be very unhappy if anything happened to you Skye."

"And who is this friend?"

Raina almost looked like she might answer when there was a soft tap on the door and a man in a uniform entered.

"Ma'am."

Raina sighed and placed her drink on the table. "Hold that thought." She answered and left the room hardly making a sound as she moved.

When the door shut Skye picked up her glass and took a long gulp. She was thirsty but Ward had told her to never show weaknesses in front of the enemy. Picking up the jug she refilled the glass to roughly where it was before and hoped Raina wouldn't notice. She was already right about her protecting Miles – at least to the extent of keeping him alive – she didn't need to give Raina anymore leverage. But really did she need to make it so hot in here?

Raina re-entered looking apologetic.

"I'm ever so sorry Skye but I've been called away. We'll have to continue this some other time."

"Called away where?" She asked innocently.

Raina laughed. "Just because I'm pretty doesn't mean I'm dim-witted Skye. But I promise you we will talk again."

"Tell me." Skye said desperately as Raina turned to leave. "Who is it?" She didn't know why but this sounded significant. Raina may be creepy on occasions but she seemed to have a focus, an aim she was working towards. She seemed to always know more than she let on.

"Our friend?" Raina questioned though given her smirk she already seemed to know what Skye was talking about.

Skye nodded. "Please."

Raina smiled. "I knew you could be agreeable. Very well. I was talking about your father."

Skye's mouth dropped ever so slightly and before she could compose herself to ask any more questions Raina had left.

No one else entered the room and Skye thought it best to move quickly. She moved over to Miles and untied him.

"Stay quiet." She instructed as he flinched at having the tape torn of his mouth and moved over to the door and inched it open, surprised it wasn't locked. The hallway was completely empty and the door at the end of it was open and appeared to lead outside.

And then Ward stepped through it.

They were right about Miles still having links with the Centipede project. Scott had managed to restore damaged surveillance footage from the apartment lobby which showed Raina and a few men leading Skye away. The guards had thankfully only been left unconscious.

After that Scott was able to – building off Skye's work – look at Centipede's financial records and using traffic cameras had found the place Skye was being held. It was at a large house just outside the city.

Pulling up Ward was surprised to find the house seemingly abandoned. It almost looked like it hadn't been touched let alone had acted as a temporary base for Raina and her men.

Ward took one of the side entrances while May and Coulson covered the front. Fitzsimmons stayed in the van with Scott and monitored communications.

As he inched into the doorway he spotted sudden movement and turning came face to face with Skye and a scared looking Lydon inching behind her.

He lowered his gun and says into his earpiece "I've found Skye. Lydon's here too."

"Are you okay?" He asked Skye not caring to ask about Lydon.

"Yeah. My head's a bit sore but…" She still looked a bit shaken in his opinion.

"Is anyone else here?"

"No they all left a few minutes ago."

"They must have known we were coming."

"How'd you find me?"

"West helped us."

"Scott?"

"Yeah he managed to track you through some surveillance footage. It had been tampered with but he managed to fix it. The he hacked into the traffic cameras to follow you back here. Also accessed Centipede's account."

"Wow, impressive. Hope you don't think he can replace _me_ though."

He smiled when he really wanted to say never. But Lydon was standing right there and he had to appear threatening in some way so the little dick didn't try to run off.

Coulson and May rounded the corner.

"The rest of the house is secure." May said calmly, but her eyes seemed to soften slightly as she set sight on Skye.

Coulson was more open with his feelings and walked forward to place a hand on her shoulder. "Glad to see you're alright Skye. You going to be alright to debrief us when we get back?"

"Sure thing A.C." She beamed back.

"Ward – want to do the honours?" Coulson asked nodding towards Lydon.

"Of course sir." He pulled out a pair of cuffs and slapped them on Lydon's wrists before shoving him outside towards the van despite his cries that he was the real victim in all of this.

After Skye was able to wave off Jemma who had wanted to do a full check up on her to make sure she was okay, Skye headed off to see Scott who was sat on the ramp while they were parked at the air hanger.

He looked up as she sat next to him. "So" He started. "Slow day?"

She laughed.

"Really, is it always like this for you?"

"Yeah. Though I don't usually have to deal with both my husband, ex-boyfriend and getting kidnapped all in the same day…"

She could practically hear him roll his eyes.

"And you like it here?"

She turned to face him fully. "I love it."

"So I guess I can't convince you to leave."

"And come with you?" She said a little taken aback.

"Yes."

She hesitated. "Sorry Scott."

"I guess I understand. It must be exciting?"

"Very."

"And you know you're making a difference?"

"Every day."

"Do you…do you still love me Skye?" He said shyly.

"Yes. Do you still love me?"

"Every day."

She smiled and leaned in to press a soft kiss to his mouth.

"But?" He asked smiling as she pulled away.

"I think it's time to let go of the safety net."

Scott nodded. "I guess I know what you mean. I think I've been using our marriage as a way to distance myself from other people."

"Me too." She said truthfully. "It was almost an excuse not to get too close to anyone for them to hurt me again."

"Do you regret it?"

"No." And she didn't. She loved their life together. Sure they hadn't been the best couple but the love was there. And the trust. It wasn't a relationship she'd found with many other people, not until she joined S.H.I.E.L.D anyway. Now she had a whole family of people she would gladly die for.

A part of her knew she'd always love Scott, in a sense he'd always be her alternative life. She could picture it so clearly. Both of them living here in their giant apartment, running software businesses, Skye still doing part time hacking. Maybe adopting a few kids because he wouldn't care that she couldn't have her own. It was a life she couldn't have with S.H.I.E.L.D. Having a family, having people who could be used to hurt you it was all a risk. That's what S.H.I.E.L.D taught her. And in this life that she'd chosen she could never be with Scott.

"So are we doing this?" Scott asked breaking Skye's train of thoughts.

She sighed heavily as her alternative life melted before her eyes. But she looked at him with a smile and took his hand. "Let's."

Lydon was still in the holding cell. Ward had approached Skye to tell her that he wanted to speak with her when he saw them. She only kissed him lightly but it was enough to make Ward take a step into the shadows and hold his breath. From his position he couldn't see much, but he saw her take his hand and walk out of the hanger.

Skye walked back onto the Bus a few short hours later to find it rather quiet. Theorising everyone was upstairs she made her way up to the lounge where she found Ward sat on one of the couches cracking his knuckles.

"Ward?"

He looked up, his face dark.

"What?"

She almost took a step back but held her ground. What had his pants in a twist?

"Where is everyone?" She knew she still had to debrief the team on her conversation with Raina. And the mention of her _father_. Part of her, after everything that had happened though, really just wanted to leave that conversation for another day.

"Coulson and May are at the airbase trying to get the authorities to pick up Lydon, Fitzsimmons are getting some supplies. Where's West?"

"Scott went home."

He looked momentarily surprised.

"Miles is still here?"

"In the holding cell."

"Is the door locked?"

"No." He said sounding confused.

She turned and walked to the cell door, she could hear Ward behind her. Opening the door she found Miles slunk in his chair but he straightened when he saw her.

"Skye. I swear I can explain what happened."

She crossed the floor and slapped him as hard as she could manage. Which given her training with Ward was now pretty hard. Hard enough to knock him off the chair onto his stupid ass.

"Don't ever contact me again. Do. You. Understand?"

"But…"

She didn't wait for a response but moved to the door ready to slip out until Ward grabbed the top of her arm holding her in place.

"Hang on." He murmured before walking over to Miles and roughly picking him up off the ground like he was a rag doll.

"Listen to me, _very_, carefully. Come after Skye again…" he bent his head and whispered something into Miles's ear that made him turn white as a sheet. Ward dropped his hold on Miles then swung a very good punch at his face knocking him out cold.

When he turned and saw her expression he shrugged. "I did say if he did something to upset you again…"

"You'd beat him up. Yeah I remember. Honestly thought you were joking though."

"Well you are my rookie."

"You don't have to protect me Ward."

"I know. Doesn't mean I don't want to though."

Skye smiled and turned on her heel out of the room. When she didn't hear Ward follow she turned and beckoned him with her hand.

She stepped into her bunk and patted the bed beside her. Ward sat down.

"I trust you." She said simply.

He looked a little taken aback. "Well it's important for S.O.'s and their trainees to maintain a trusting…"

"Ward." She interrupted. "Don't ruin the moment."

"We're having a moment?"

"You just knocked out my ex-boyfriend for hurting me. We're having a moment. Don't ruin it."

"I thought. You and Scott…"

"What about Scott?" She said tilting her head as she scanned his face.

"Aren't you? I mean it looked like you were…you're married!" He gave up.

She smiled prettily at that. "No we're not."

"What?"

"We're not married anymore."

"Really?"

"Really. We got a divorce this afternoon. You can now refer to him as my first husband."

"First?" He said sounding a little irritated.

"What can I say, I'm an optimist." Skye answered brightly.

"Anyone in mind?"

"Nope."

He exhaled sharply.

"Although…"

He tensed up. Really how could the man doubt himself this much? Maybe it was time to give him a sign.

She put both hands on the mattress and leaned forward pressing her lips softly to his. Pulling back she observed his shocked face and giggled a little.

"Oh come on Ward it isn't like we haven't kissed before."

"I thought that was a one off."

"Do you want it to be?" She asked coyly.

"Well…"

"Yes or no Ward."

He responded well to those kinds of straight questions. "No."

"Right answer."

Skye shifted closer and pulled him in for a deeper kiss letting one of her hands run through his short hair and the other rest on his chest. He took a moment before responding rather passionately, crushing her into him and slipping his tongue into her mouth.

When they were both short of breath he moved to the side of her neck giving her a second to process what had happened. When did she end up on his lap?

His lips left her and she groaned at the loss of contact. He smiled up at her before rolling her into the mattress and planting his hands at the side of her head.

"So. First husband?"

She grinned.

Raina's footsteps echoed in the empty room no matter how softly she walked. There was no furniture save a chair in which he was sat.

"Well." He grumbled at her and she rushed to his side.

"I made contact. She knows you're alive."

He didn't respond but underneath the blood she thought she saw a smile.


End file.
